More history will be made this coming Friday night at Can Am Speedway in Lafargeville New York as the first ever Hall of Fame class will be inducted during a special ceremony on Whitesboro Plow Shop night.
Inductees for the inaugural class are some of the pioneers from the early days of Can Am and helped make the speedway what it is today.
In the early days of the speedway, the Thurston Family with Bob Thurston Sr. along with his wife Rose leading the way, took sole control of the speedway in 1981 following a brief partnership with Doug Atkinson and Thomas Coughlin. The Thurston’s brought the speedway under the DIRTCar banner in 1983 and made several changes to the track, including shortening the layout to a half mile, from it’s early days as a high banked 5/8 mile speedway. The family and those behind them every week, saw many major series grace the speedway and helping to grow the sport of auto racing in Lafargeville. The family never let anything stop them, including the devastating microburst in 1995, which tore the speedway facilities apart, but the family and their supporters brought the speedway back stronger and better than ever weeks after that and continued to do so, until selling the speedway at the end of the 2000 season. Following the sale of the track, the entire family has still been in attendance in many roles and continue to own race cars that compete at the speedway. Rose Thurston was is a member of the Northeast Modified Hall of Fame in Weedsport, receiving the 2005 Woman in Racing Award. Their dedication to the sport and to the speedway, have made them one of the most important parts of the growth of the track and racing in our region.
Watertown New York’s Gary Reddick was one of the many racers from our region to take on some of the best in the business and beat them on a regular basis. Born in Monkland Ontario, near Ottawa but later moved to Depauville and eventually owned a service station. He later got behind the wheel of a race car at Watertown Speedway and never looked back. His impact at the Cam Am Speedway was historical from the time the track held its first full time season in 1975. Reddick notched 6 feature wins during the speedway’s first full time year to become the first ever Modified track champion, cementing his place in speedway history. Reddick claimed a total of 9 feature wins between 1975 and 1979, before hanging up the helmet in 1981. He’s also one of several Can Am Speedway legends, who are also enshrined in the Northeast Modified Hall of Fame, receiving the honor in May of 2010.
For those who have attended Can Am Speedway over the years you have seen and heard Bill Eisele, who has been a part of the track since day 1. A longtime Watertown Speedway Late Model driver and track champion, he left his mark at Can Am winning 4 Late Model features from 1976 to 1979. In 1983 he finally reached the top of the mountain by winning the track championship by using consistency to claim top honors that year. Eisele was also famous for being the speedway’s pace car driver for the better part of three decades along with various roles at the track, including the Cam Am BMX Raceway and the go kart track as well. Bill continued to race from time to time across multiple divisions in the mid
90s before focusing mainly on his pace car driving duties. One of the most well respected people at the track, Eisele along with wife Donna, got to witness their family become part of the Can Am Speedway legacy, with son Billy seeing success behind the wheel in multiple divisions, while their daughter Rebecca continues to capture some of the greatest moments in track history and memorable victory lane celebrations behind the camera as a successful photographer. Their Grandson Gavin continues to carry the family name, who recently became the first three generations of track champions at Can Am.
Long time local business owner and former Town Justice with the Town of Orleans, Lee Gill was one of the originals at the Can Am Speedway and threw the first ever green flag at the very first race on June 14th 1974. He also threw the first checkered flags that opening night for Late Model winner Gord Dobbins and Modified winner Jim Clark. Gill and his family business Gilco Trucking supported the speedway for decades through sponsorship of not only race nights at the speedway, but also several local racers, including his son Lee, who claimed 100 career feature wins and multiple track titles in several divisions. Gill became another one of the most respected people in the pit area with fellow competitors and has been proud of his family’s accomplishments at the speedway, which includes being one the winningest car owners in track history.
One of the most legendary figures will be going in to the inaugural Hall of Fame class at Can Am Speedway Friday night and that driver is Barefoot Bob McCreadie. A man who owned victory lane at Can Am for many years and at one point was the all time winningest driver at the speedway, McCreadie won the first of his 34 career Modified features on May 31st 1975, the track’s first full time season. Bob added several major wins including a pair of DIRTcar 358 Modified Series wins in 1987 and 1988. He also scored the first ever Summer Starter in 1990 with his lone Super DIRTcar Series win coming July 18th 1996. Although Bob never won a track title, he, for several seasons, won the most races of all drivers through his career as a full time driver at the track. After moving on to run Big Block Modifieds and winning Super DIRT Week in 1986, he would not forget his home as he would come back when he could, many times, dominating he field. Bob would claim his final modified win at Can Am on August 13th of 2005. He would also be inducted into the Northeast Modified Hall of Fame in Weedsport in 2006.
The ceremony will take place before the start of the evening of racing in all five divisions with hot laps at 6:20pm and the firs green flag of the night falling at 7pm following the Hall of Fame inductions.
(By: Tim Baltz)
(Photo Credit: 1974 Gater Racing Newspaper)
